Match date: 19 October 2013

After winning their opening 3 fixtures, Mainz went on to lose their next 4 matches, followed by a draw and so entered the match in poor form, against a Bayern Munchen side that were undefeated in their last 33 Bundesliga matches.

With Javi Martinez and Thiago Alcantara still absent through injury, Pep Guardiola opted to start Philipp Lahm in the holding midfield role in front of the back four, a role he has excelled in so far under Guardiola. Just as an aside, I believe this is a quality that really sets Guardiola apart from any other manager today. He has certain skill sets that he wants at each position and any player that fulfills those is a player that can play in that position, regardless of their abilities in other positions. What other manager would have moved the world’s best right back and put him in a defensive midfield role? What other right back could do that? Pep always says the best players should play in the middle and he always seems to be looking to make the entire field a midfield, if you will.

Thomas Tuchel set his Mainz side out with 5 at the back, 4 in midfield, and a lone striker as he looked to keep Bayern’s attacking play at bay.

Bayern’s First Half Struggles

Tuchel’s 5-4-1 formation worked very well for Mainz in the first half of the match. His players were disciplined and kept a slow moving Bayern side from getting a shot on target. The reason Tuchel’s formation worked so well is that it allowed Mainz to match up with Bayern in the wide areas, who have arguably the best width play in the world with Ribery, Robben, Alaba, and, usually, Lahm. With five players at the back for Mainez, they were able to have the two outside backs match up with the wingers, who is match were Robeen and Müller, and allowed the two outside midfielders from the four in midfield to track the runs of Rafinha and Contento. Nicolai Müller, who was joint-top scorer in the Bundesliga coming into the match, attempted 5 tackles as he looked to track back. Below you can see that Robben was up against Junior Diaz and Choupo-Moting with a Mainz centre back adding cover as well. Rafinha, who is on the ball, had just come up the line to offer Robben support.

With neither David Alaba or Franck Ribery in the side, the left side of Bayern’s attack was always going to have less influence on the match, but Bayern rarely looked to the left to create anything. Thomas Müller, despite starting as the left sided winger, had to either come inside or to the right side of the pitch to get involved in the attacks, which is generally where he feels more comfortable.

With the wide areas even matched, Bayern tried to play through the middle a bit more than they usually do, but neither Toni Kroos or Bastian Schweinsteiger were really able to break the Mainz defensive line with their passing either and could not really get in between the lines for Bayern to find them. Kroos received the ball just four times in the attacking third during the first half, and with those four, he was unable to then play the ball forward, with most of his passes being played from the middle third into the final third. A lot of this has to do with Mainz’s discipline and concentration in the opening 45 minutes of play, however, Bayern were slow in moving the ball and failed to really open up any holes that they could have well done if they had been moving the ball quicker or looked to create numbers-up situations in the wide areas, where they are generally most effective.

Defensively, Bayern had little to do as they were quick to win the ball back as the high line of Boateng and Dante allowed the central midfielders to help with pressing whenever Bayern lost the ball and forced Mainz to play balls out of play or mostly back to Neuer. Mainz’s goal came about because of a missed interception by Boateng rather than the high line.

Pep’s Half Time Changes

With an injury to Dante late in the first half, Alaba was brought on and Contento was shifted to centre back. At half time, however, Guardiola made a tactical substitution, bringing on Mario Götze, who was signed from Dortmund in the summer, for Rafinha, which allowed Lahm to revert to right back and Schweinsteiger to the holding midfield role. Last year at Dortmund, Götze was excellent at playing between the opposition’s lines and helping to create numbers-up situations with his teammates in the wide areas and this was just what Bayern Munchen needed from Götze to breakdown Mainz. Kroos, who has become more of a controlling midfielder, worked well in between the lines for Bayern last year as a number 10, but has adapted his play to Pep Guardiola’s system.

With the introduction of Götze, Kroos dropped off a bit as another link player between the Bayern centre backs and the attacking players, essentially inverting the midfield triangle that Bayern had in the first half. Instead of Kroos and Schweinsteiger playing in front of Lahm, now Kroos and Schweinsteiger were playing behind Götze. With Kroos and Schweinsteiger behind Götze, it allowed the new Bayern player a bit more space and allowed him to roam around between the lines, but more importantly it stretched Mainz’s defensive lines as the midfielders and forward pressed higher onto Boateng, Contento, Kroos, and Schweinsteiger, which again, opened up more space for Götze to move in.

Götze’s influence

Götze’s influence on the match was relatively immediate as he assisted Robben’s equalising goal in the 50th minute of play. This goal demonstrated his ability to play in between the lines of Mainz’s defense, which Bayern were lacking prior to his introduction. Kroos, playing in a slightly deeper role, received the ball from Boateng at about the halfway line and was able to play it to Götze who had drifted into the space that Nicolai Müller vacated as he played a ball to Shawn Parker. When Götze got the ball, he was unopposed and able to play the ball in behind Mainz’s line for Robben to score.

Bayern’s second and third goals, scored by Müller and Mandzukic, respectively, demonstrated Götze’s ability to drift wide and support the wide players by creating numbers-up situations. Müller’s goal came with Lahm, Robben, and now Götze in the wide areas, creating a 3v3 situation, but with Götze getting behind two Mainz defenders covering Lahm. Lahm played the ball into Götze, who played Robben, who had made a great run inside and played the ball to Müller to slot into the back of the net.

The third goal again demonstrated Götze’s drifting wide as he received a ball from Müller and cut it back for Mandzukic to score. Again, by the picture below, you can see that Götze’s wide play not only allowed Bayern another player to use in the wide areas, but also dragged Mainz’s defensive line out from the centre of their area. Just notice the large gap in behind Götze.

In his time on the pitch, Götze was able to change the game for Bayern. He assisted two goals and orchestrated a third. It was in large part due to his introduction that Bayern looked a much better side because with him in, one of Bayern’s central midfielders was playing between the lines and adding another player in the wide areas. It wasn’t just Götze’s introduction that won the match though, as Bayern looked to move the ball much quicker and attempted almost 100 more passes in the second half than the first. In total, they attempted 832 passes and had 78% possession.

Conclusion

A sluggish first half that was remedied at halftime by a thoughtful substitution by Pep Guardiola. Götze’s introduction added to Bayern what they were lacking in the first half and allowed them to open up Mainz once Pep flipped his midfield triangle to help draw Mainz out a bit more and open up the space for Götze to operate in. With the win, Bayern remain top of the Bundesliga table and remain undefeated, winning seven and drawing two.

Mainz drop another match, having won their opening three fixtures, they’ve now failed to win in their last 6 matches. Their opening goal in this match was primarily down to Boateng’s mistake, but had they been able to keep their discipline in the second half and had Tuchel adjust his team to counteract the second half threat of Götze, perhaps Mainz could have gotten something out of the match.